Carly Davies (born 1986) is an English

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former player who played as a

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

. She is the current manager of

Women's Super League 2 The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Playing career

Aston Villa

Carly Davies joined

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in 2001 at the age of 15 before being promoted to the senior team in 2003. She made her debut for Aston Villa on 28 November 2004 during a 2–2 draw against

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

, and she scored her first goal for Aston Villa on 23 January 2005 during a 4–1 win against

Curzon Ashton Curzon Ashton Football Club is an association football club based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1963 and nicknamed "The Nash", the club is affiliated to the Manchester Football Association and currently compete ...

. She also played for the Aston Villa Reserves during the 2004–05 and 2008–09 seasons, debuting during a 4–0 loss against Birmingham City Reserves on 5 September 2004. She won the 2010–11 FA Women's Premier League Northern Division and the 2012–2013 FA WNL Cup with the club. She made a total of 130 appearances and scored 59 goals for Aston Villa between 2003 and 2018.

Coventry United

Davies left Aston Villa to join local club Coventry United for the 2014–15 season. Alongside Emma Hollingsworth, Davies was ineligibly fielded by Coventry City during two league fixtures in April 2015 against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

and

which saw

The FA The Football Association (the FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsibl ...

deduct six points from the club. She scored her only goal for Coventry United on 12 April 2015 during the 6–4 win against Huddersfield Town.

Solihull Moors

She then joined West Midlands Regional Women's Football League Division One club

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

in July 2015. She debuted for Solihull Moors on 13 September 2015 during the 2–0 victory against Birmingham & West Midlands. She scored her first four goals for Solihull on 2015 during the 4–3 win against Peterborough Northern Star. Aged 32, she retired after being substituted due to an injury she sustained during the first-half of the 3–1 loss against Long Eaton United on 2 May 2018.

Managerial career

Early coaching roles

Davies gained her

UEFA A Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

for coaching in 2020 and previously had coaching roles with England U19,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, and

between 2020 and 2023.

Nottingham Forest

She was appointed as the manager of

FA Women's National League The FA Women's National League is a group of six football divisions which sit at the third and fourth tiers of women's football in England. Founded in 1991 as the WFA National League, the league was run by the Women's Football Association, before ...

club

on 7 August 2023. During the same season in which the club first became professional, she led Nottingham Forest to the

2024–25 FA Women's National League The 2024–25 FA Women's National League is the 33rd season of the competition, and the seventh since a restructure and rebranding of the top four tiers of English football by The Football Association. Starting in 1991, it was previously known a ...

title and also won the 2024–25 FA WNL Cup with the club.

Career statistics

Personal life

On 13 June 2024, Davies married former

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

head coach

Remi Allen Remi Lee Allen (born 15 October 1990) is an English professional football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of Women's Championship club Southampton. Club career On 30 June 2016, Reading signed Allen from Birmingham Ci ...

in Dénia, Spain.

Honours

As a player

Aston Villa *

FA Women's Premier League Northern Division The FA Women's National League North is a football league at the third tier of women's football in England. Together with the National League South, the two leagues form the highest division of the National League. Established in 1991 as the WFA ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

* FA WNL Cup:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Coventry United *

: runners-up 2014–15

As a manager

Nottingham Forest *

: 2024–25 * FA WNL Cup: 2024–25

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Carly Living people 1986 births English women's footballers Women's association football forwards Aston Villa W.F.C. players 21st-century English sportswomen English LGBTQ footballers